German Chancellor flies in to celebrate work of University Professor

Doctor Merkel and her husband Doctor Joachim Sauer joined Professor Thomas and numerous world renowned scientists at the two-day Scientific Symposium which coincided with his 75th birthday.

Sir John welcomed the Chancellor, herself a quantum chemist, to Peterhouse where he was Master from 1993 to 2002. They joined honoured guests for speeches and dinner at the University's oldest College.

Professor Alison Richard, Vice-Chancellor of the University, and Professor Lord Rees of Ludlow, President of the Royal Society, spoke at the opening ceremony, with the opening lecture delivered by Nobel Laureate Professor Ahmed Zewail.

The symposium, held at Fitzwilliam College, included more than 20 lectures delivered by prominent academics in the fields of chemistry, physics and materials science, honouring Sir John's enormous contributions to these fields throughout the last 50 years.

As part of the celebrations Kings College Chapel hosted a private organ recital delivered by Daniel Hyde, Director of Chapel Music at Jesus College.

Professor Thomas first met Doctor Merkel and her husband Doctor Sauer when he was Director of the Royal Institution London. Having published a joint paper on catalysis with Sauer, who was one of the speakers at the symposium, they have continued to exchange ideas.

The Professor said: “The delegates and I were enormously pleased that Chancellor Merkel was able to join our celebrations over the weekend.”

Doctor Merkel is the first woman to assume the chancellery of reunited Germany and the first woman to lead Germany since it became a modern nation-state at the end of the 19th century.

Educated at the University of Leipzig, she studied physics from 1973 to 1978. The Chancellor worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Adlershof from 1978 to 1990.

Sir John who is honorary Professor of Solid-State Chemistry at the Department of Materials Science has published over 950 research papers and holds 18 honorary doctorates and over 40 honorary fellowships from universities around the world. In 1991 he was knighted for services to chemistry and the popularisation of science.

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